Too little, too late, and it won't help save the city's downtown merchants

Crooks have hit the location seven times this year alone, according to the outlet.

Woke mayor who axed $10M from cop budget now wants to fight crime

The mayor of Berkeley, Calif., who axed $10 million from the liberal bastion’s cop budget in 2020 has made an abrupt about-face and now wants to lead the charge against an alarming spike in crime.

“In Berkeley, my colleagues and I defunded $9,251,458 from the Berkeley Police Department, or 12% of the agency’s annual operating budget,” Jesse Arreguin wrote in a July 2020 San Francisco Chronicle column.

“It awakened America’s collective consciousness to the systemic racism that pervades our society, from education and housing to employment, and of course, policing,” he wrote at the time.

But faced with rising crime and growing public exasperation, Arreguin has now positioned himself as a proactive proponent of law and order.

Arreguin held a press conference this week to announce the formation of a regional task force to address growing lawlessness in beset East Bay cities.

“We have to work together across city and county lines to enhance public safety for the entire East Bay,” Arreguín said in a prepared statement, according to the Berkeley Scanner. 

“This partnership will enable greater coordination and regional strategies that prevent and deter crime, and hold these individuals accountable.”

[Unspecified] Officials praised Arreguin’s initiative, asserting that greater coordination between local agencies could help stanch law breaking.

But some local merchants scoffed at the shift in posture, highlighting that Berkeley’s police ranks have thinned drastically in recent years and crime has predictably mushroomed because of it.

“Little late now, isn’t it?” said one downtown Berkeley merchant. “You bash cops, cut funds, and now you want to address it? It’s hilarious. This area was not like this five years ago. The business owners have had it.”

Entire blocks of the city’s once thriving downtown are now shuttered, with “For Lease” signs predominating and largely being ignored.

“You see it all, everyday,” the merchant said. “Homeless, violence, people s—ing in the street. It’s the norm now.”

High-profile crimes — including carjackings, sex attacks and armed robberies — are also plaguing UC Berkeley and its environs.

According to the Scanner, the Berkeley Police Department had roughly 130 active officers as of September — down from prior highs of 200, a decrease of 35%.

While funding has had an impact on hires, applications for the department have also shriveled in recent years, making vacancies increasingly difficult to fill.

And here’s a surprise: Arreguin, who was first elected mayor in 2016, is planning a run for California state Senate.

In August, 2021, California’s Hoover Institute explained what was going on — it’s description of crime conditions is applicable to every large Blue State city, and many smaller ones, and three-years later, nothing’s changed, except for the worse.

Why Shoplifting Is Now De Facto Legal In California

…. We probably shouldn’t call it shoplifting anymore, since that term connotes the idea of a person trying to conceal their crime. In San Francisco, there is no attempt to conceal theft, and there is almost never any effort by store employees, including security personnel, to confront the thieves. The most they do is record the thefts with their cell phones.

Why is shoplifting so rampant? Because state law holds that stealing merchandise worth $950 or less is just a misdemeanor, which means that law enforcement probably won’t bother to investigate, and if they do, prosecutors will let it go.

Why won’t store employees do anything about this theft? Because they don’t want to take the risk. I doubt many would, knowing that a Rite Aid employee was murdered recently after trying to stop two thieves. Moreover, a confrontation within the store risks harming not only store staff but also customers, so employees are almost certainly instructed by their managers to do nothing.

Because of this law, California is extending an open invitation to anyone to walk in and take. Just like that—since they know that police or prosecutors won’t bother with a misdemeanor complaint and that store personnel won’t stop them.

…. Governor Newsom recently signed a new law in which shoplifting is a felony, even if it is below the $950 limit, if—and this is a big “if”—the theft is part of an organized ring with the intent to sell the stolen goods. Sadly, this may have little effect on shoplifting, given that most of these thefts are by individuals, rather than groups, and it will still be up to police and prosecutors to charge these as felonies. What is needed is a change to the state law that makes shoplifting at a much lower dollar level a felony, to provide adequate incentives to individuals not to commit these crimes.